John Kerry, Famous American Patriot

A very good, longtime friend, sent me this this morning. He is not one who forwards such things typically unless they are really, really to the point and good. This one, for sure, meets the criteria. Please take the time to read it.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     Fwd: I had a dream about John Kerry
Date:     Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:36:36 -0600
From:    
Organization:    
To:     jimr48@gmail.com
Thought you might like to see this series of questions for John Kerry....
Subject: I had a dream

I had a dream last night.

There sat the dog faced John Kerry before the Senate confirmation hearings for his appointment to Secretary of State. After the Chair had praised his vast "Diplomatic Experience"... Followed by praise for his integrity, honorable service, etc. He finally turns the hearing over to the rest of the panel for questioning... and here is where my dream turned to fantasy... For in my dream... the first Republican Senator to ask a question starts like this....

Senator... you life story is a long and storied one...well known throughout the world... and the Chair has praised your integrity and diplomatic experience...
I'd like to start by asking you to once again describe your famous Christmas Eve, secret mission into Cambodia... Which I find most interesting since you weren't even in SE Asia during the Christmas time of year?
Then I would like to ask... is consorting with our nations enemies part of your "Diplomatic Experience"... Like North Vietnam while we were at war? The Sandinistas while we were engaged in conflict in Central America? The butcher Assad and Saddam Hussein in the Middle East... and the Russians and Chinese when we were engaged in the Cold War?

And would you explain to us how you recruited your fellow "Winter Soldiers" to come and testify before Congress about atrocities committed by our American Soldiers and Marines... when most of the so called witnesses you recruited... were never even in the military or had ever gone to Vietnam? 

Remind us of your eye witness accounts of our Vietnam Veterans as being as ruthless as the hordes of Gangues Khan? Tell us when and where you observed that first hand Senator Kerry?
And then I'd like to know why your citations for your Silver Stars were signed by a Secretary of the Navy... years and years after the war was over? And also, is it true as charged by eye witnesses... Your Purple Hearts were as a result of your own incompetence? Friendly fire by your own hand? 

These are just some of the questions I have... and should be answered before your confirmation.

And in my dream... I was cheerleading the line of questioning and thinking subconsciously...
"Ask why he couldn't pass the Bar Exam... if he is so brilliant"? 
"Ask him why he parked his boat in Rhode Island... Was it to avoid taxes on it in his home state"? 
"Ask him how he has accumulated such grand wealth on the salary of a Senator"? "Is it true that your wealth was derived by marrying homely, if not downright ugly... rich heiresses and widows"? 
"And ask him why the men who served with him in Vietnam... universally hate his guts... along with 99.9% of all Vietnam Veterans"? 
"Ask him if it is true that of all the men and women in the U.S. Senate... he is known to be the most egotistical of them all... only his good buddy, John McCain comes close. A man who also married well... Birds of a feather"? 

And then... I woke up! Ain't gonna happen... Politicians are gutless!

But I have to ask myself: Is this the face America wants to present to the rest of the world? A man who has made a career of lies, falsehoods and deceit? I can think of no human being... who symbolizes the term; "Ugly American" more than John Kerry. A liar, a phony, arrogant, piece of human dog poop if there ever was one!

Is this a man we should be proud to be hailed as a "Great American"? Can any foreign leader ever trust a single word out of this man's mouth... when it is documented that he has lied to his own countrymen... time after time after time... Is this the best we have offer?

In a perfect world... this man wouldn't even be considered for "Dog Catcher"... even though he did manage to capture two in his lifetime.

He is an insult... a mortal insult... to all who have served.

Supporting Organizations

If you get right down to it, supporting organizations in many respects does not make sense. I'm thinking of Komen and Planned Parenthood to start with, but then expanded my thoughts to like everybody socially and religiously and politically and thought about all this stuff.

Yeah, I give to United Way. It makes my employer look good and I can designate my contributions for Youth Emergency Services and Shelter who, I know for a fact, uses like 95% of the money for the cause instead of for their pockets. But I do NOT give it all to United Way. Before I gave any more to them, I would take it right down to YESS and give them cash. Or Hope Mission. Or Lutheran Services in Iowa.

I have even stopped supporting World Vision - too much overhead and, really, did it make a difference for Savina, the girl we supported for 9 years until she got married?

I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust.

" I hate all this silly religion,

but you, God, I trust." - Psalm 31:6 (The Message)

I have been using The Message for daily readings in the Psalms and Proverbs. I find it really refreshing, and I know that God will have one single passage of scripture mean different things to each person on different days. So, I was pondering a non-Believing (by her own categorization) friend's question:

"Why would God help Tim Tebow win a football game but let genocide occur? Just wondering."

She then added "I'm not a believer, but I just wonder how those who do believe can reconcile it."

Then I read: "I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust."

Since this is now the 3rd time I have quoted it, you should feel, quite correctly, that I want the words to sink in. You see, this has to do with non-JudaoChristian perceptions of God, primarily with understanding faith. Faith is what let's me, no, MAKES me accept God's modus operandi. It has to do with grace. It has to do with David the Shepherd. It has to do with free will.

C.S. Lewis pointed out that "Free will, though it makes evil possible, also makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." Free will is one of the basic tenets of Christianity.

David did not go to that big church downtown. Even when he worshiped on mountaintops, he was not in a building. And, he wasn't with a group of fellow believers (although sometimes you or I may feel like we're just in a herd of sheep). But there is no denying that he had faith.

See (or choose not to), it's this way: we have nothing to do with our faith. Once the Holy Spirit is in us, it is the Spirit who forms our faith regardless of, no matter what, in spite of what we may do or think we are doing. Ritual, prayer, scripture - if they matter as far as how our faith is formed it is the Spirit working and not we ourselves.

David's faith developed strictly by his spending time with God, and in his "praying", far from the rote patterns of many churches today, he asked Him a few questions and then listened and observed. David knew that God would answer him, but that the answers were not always meant to be understood fully. But, the questions would be answered and God was always paying attention to David and his questions.

I have a son-in-law who is an ordained minister with a doctorate in post modern ecclesiology. He is maybe more liberal than I am conservative. At the core level, though, we share beliefs and wishes. He just this day wrote on Twitter:

I wish that the church spoke to the younger generations...That the church was more interested in those outside the walls than inside the walls... That the church was an instrument of grace rather than rules and doctrine... That the church followed Jesus rather than parade him around... That the church could learn to love our neighbors as ourselves... That the church would truly love and worship God... That the church was less interested in buildings than people.

Barry Soetoro goes to school?

• 
• Wayne Allyn Root
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Wayne Allyn Root is a Tea Party Libertarian conservative, Capitalist Evangelist, and serial entrepreneur. He is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee.  […]

wayne@rootforamerica.com

Author's Website

I am President Obama’s classmate at Columbia University, Class of ’83. I am also one of the most accurate Las Vegas oddsmakers and prognosticators. Accurate enough that I was awarded my own star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. And I smell something rotten in Denmark. Obama has a big skeleton in his closet. It’s his college records. Call it “gut instinct” but my gut is almost always right. Obama has a secret hidden at Columbia- and it’s a bad one that threatens to bring down his presidency. Gut instinct is how I’ve made my living for 29 years since graduating Columbia.
Obama and his infamous strategist David Axelrod understand how to play political hardball, the best it’s ever been played. Team Obama has decided to distract America’s voters by condemning Mitt Romney for not releasing enough years of his tax returns. It’s the perfect cover. Obama knows the best defense is a bold offense. Just keep attacking Mitt and blaming him for secrecy and evasion, while accusing him of having a scandal that doesn’t exist. Then ask followers like Senator Harry Reid to chase the lead. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader appears to now be making up stories out of thin air, about tax returns he knows nothing about. It’s a cynical, brilliant, and vicious strategy. Make Romney defend, so he can’t attack the real Obama scandal.
This is classic Axelrod. Obama has won several elections in his career by slandering his opponents and leaking sealed documents. Not only do these insinuations and leaks ruin the credibility and reputation of Obama’s opponents, they keep them on the defensive and off Obama’s trail of sealed documents.

By attacking Romney’s tax records, Obama’s socialist cabal creates a problem that doesn’t exist. Is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader making up stories out of thin air? You decide. But the reason for this baseless attack is clear- make Romney defend, so not only is he “off message” but it helps the media ignore the real Obama scandal.
My answer for Romney? Call Obama’s bluff.
Romney should call a press conference and issue a challenge in front of the nation. He should agree to release more of his tax returns, only if Obama unseals his college records. Simple and straight-forward. Mitt should ask “What could possibly be so embarrassing in your college records from 29 years ago that you are afraid to let America’s voters see? If it’s THAT bad, maybe it’s something the voters ought to see.” Suddenly the tables are turned. Now Obama is on the defensive.
My bet is that Obama will never unseal his records because they contain information that could destroy his chances for re-election. Once this challenge is made public, my prediction is you’ll never hear about Mitt’s tax returns ever again.
Why are the college records, of a 51-year-old President of the United States, so important to keep secret? I think I know the answer.
If anyone should have questions about Obama’s record at Columbia University, it’s me. We both graduated (according to Obama) Columbia University, Class of ’83. We were both (according to Obama) Pre-Law and Political Science majors. And I thought I knew most everyone at Columbia. I certainly thought I’d heard of all of my fellow Political Science majors. But not Obama (or as he was known then- Barry Soetoro). I never met him. Never saw him. Never even heard of him. And none of the classmates that I knew at Columbia have ever met him, saw him, or heard of him.
But don’t take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that Fox News randomly called 400 of our Columbia classmates and never found one who had ever met Obama.
Now all of this mystery could be easily and instantly dismissed if Obama released his Columbia transcripts to the media. But even after serving as President for 3 1/2 years he refuses to unseal his college records. Shouldn’t the media be as relentless in pursuit of Obama’s records as Romney’s? Shouldn’t they be digging into Obama’s past–beyond what he has written about himself–with the same boundless enthusiasm as Mitt’s?
The first question I’d ask is, if you had great grades, why would you seal your records? So let’s assume Obama got poor grades. Why not release the records? He’s president of the free world, for gosh sakes. He’s commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. Who’d care about some poor grades from three decades ago, right? So then what’s the problem? Doesn’t that make the media suspicious? Something doesn’t add up.
Secondly, if he had poor grades at Occidental, how did he get admitted to an Ivy League university in the first place? And if his grades at Columbia were awful, how’d he ever get into Harvard Law School? So again those grades must have been great, right? So why spend millions to keep them sealed?
Third, how did Obama pay for all these fancy schools without coming from a wealthy background? If he had student loans or scholarships, would he not have to maintain good grades?
I can only think of one answer that would explain this mystery.
Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not.
If you could unseal Obama’s Columbia University records I believe you’d find that:
A)   He rarely ever attended class.
B)   His grades were not those typical of what we understand it takes to get into Harvard Law School.
C)   He attended Columbia as a foreign exchange student.
D)   He paid little for either undergraduate college or Harvard Law School because of foreign aid and scholarships given to a poor foreign students like this kid Barry Soetoro from Indonesia.
If you think I’m “fishing” then prove me wrong. Open up your records Mr. President. What are you afraid of?
If it’s okay for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to go on a fishing expedition about Romney’s taxes (even though he knows absolutely nothing about them nor will release his own), then I think I can do the same thing. But as Obama’s Columbia Class of ’83 classmate, at least I have more standing to make educated guesses.
It’s time for Mitt to go on the attack and call Obama’s bluff.

Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and the author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian.” Read more at his website: www.ROOTforAmerica.com

Connecticut --> Guns [what else?]

I do not care if you decide all guns should be banned [although I certainly disagree]; but, if you reach that decision I want it to be based on truth and logic rather than conundrum, alarum and emotion.
 
 Here we go, still, in my relentless but probably unsuccessful campaign hopefully to educate or to help you educate others about the myths and illogicalities of gun control. I have waited a couple of days and here are a few things lumped together.  Yes, this is another of my typically long posts. Feel free to scan, to ignore, or to pursue the links it includes.

Yes, for many, if not most, of you I am preaching to the choir. Hopefully this information expands your available discussion skillset. If it is not old news for you, hopefully this information shall assist you in confirming your opinion.


An assault weapons ban was in place in Connecticut and did precisely nothing to stop Lanza from mowing down kindergarteners. Connecticut has heavy gun registration laws. Sandy Hook Elementary was a gun-free zone, just as virtually every major mass shooting location in recent memory has been. The real solutions here lie in better protection for schoolchildren, either from armed guards or trained administrators, not in more pie-in-the-sky legislation. Lanza broke at least five laws before he even began shooting. None of them stopped him.

A great op ed: “The same Department of Justice that allowed the illegal transfer of 2500 semi-automatic AK-47 assault rifles to ruthless Mexican cartels, which resulted in the murders of hundreds in Mexico (including children) and two U.S. federal agents, is going to be dictating and enforcing the prohibition of sane law abiding U.S. citizen's owning semi-automatic rifles. Fantastic."
Full piece


Media myths about assault weapons and semi-automatic firearms. Just like the TV ad where the girl says "They can't put it on the Internet if it isn't true. Here he comes now. He's a French model ... ", discussion is rampant with misinformation and myth.

“semiautomatic” mostly means “not automatic.” The use of the phrase semi-automatic when talking about guns is like using the phrase “gasoline cars.”

Even the M-16s the U.S. military buys today do not have the automatic option. AR-15s that are legal to buy do not have the three-shot burst that the military’s current M-16s have, the CIVILIAN AR-15 is incapable of automatic or burst fire. They don’t have the automatic-fire option that most people associate with the MILITARY M-16.

In the NY Times:
    semiautomatic weapons, including the AR-15, are increasingly being used in the killings of police officers, whose vests often provide little protection against such firearms.
                         Semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle, as in the Times article  

     Bushmaster MOE M-4                                                       





REAL M-4

 Yes, Virginia, this IS an assault weapon with all the available bells switches and whistles. It is designed for killing attacking enemy soldiers accurately at ranges up to 800 yards and can be changed in the field for different calibers of bullets, types of ordnance, grenades, sights, lights =  to your little old heart's content. It can fire 30 rounds as fast as you can blink your eye - that is what fully automatic means. It can hold a 100-shell magazine and even be fed by a belt of bullets, like the classic machine gun.

You do NOT go buy this at the corner WalMart, the pawn shop, or Mike's Gun Shoppe.

Assault pencil - collapsible stock, pistol grip, front                                                                 grip, tactical light, tactical sight

The No. 2 assault pencil fits Nancy Pelosi's definition of assault rifle as her words are currently written.

"AR-15s are not the only weapons used by rampaging shooters. Semiautomatic handguns are also frequently employed. In Newtown, in addition to the Bushmaster M-4 carbine, two handguns were found at the scene, a 10-millimeter Glock and a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer, although the rifle is what Mr. Lanza used, pumping up to 11 bullets into each victim’s body" [objective journalism, not sensationalism, right?]

Does this mean a higher proportion of police killings are done with semiauto weapons as opposed to single-action rifles and revolvers? What is it about being semiautomatic – again, a descriptor of the loading mechanism – that makes a gun more able to overcome the protection of a bullet-proof vest?

The referenced article uses the term “assault weapon” to describe the AR-15. But there’s no real definition of the term.

All guns can be used to assault someone – even a muzzle-loading black-powder rifle.
Congressional attempts to define this term were laughably ad hoc.
A rifle could cease being an assault weapon if you sawed off the flash suppressor.
It could become an assault weapon if you added a bayonet.
A 49-ounce handgun could be legal under this law, while an identical version that was one ounce heavier could be outlawed.

The law didn’t target guns used for murder. It targeted guns that look too military-like:

The Pentagon defines the term “assault rifle,” and David Kopel quotes that definition in an article in the Journal of Contemporary Law. He writes:
As the United States Defense Department’s Defense Intelligence Agency bookSmall Arms Identification and Operation Guide explains, “assault rifles” are “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges.”[21] In other words, assault rifles are battlefield rifles which can fire automatically.[22]
Weapons capable of fully automatic fire, including assault rifles, have been regulated heavily in the United States since the National Firearms Act of 1934.[23] Taking possession of such weapons requires paying a $200 federal transfer tax and submitting to an FBI background check, including ten-print fingerprints.[24]

I will editorially add that the Class 3 license to buy and sell automatic weapons and even the "simple" application for the transfer tax take months to complete and require checks and balances at many levels of government.

(b) DEFINITION OF SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPON- Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(30) The term `semiautomatic assault weapon’ means–

`(A) any of the firearms, or copies or duplicates of the firearms in any caliber, known as–

`(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs (all models);
`(ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI and Galil;

 `(iii) Beretta Ar70 (SC-70);

`(iv) Colt AR-15;
`(v) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and FNC;

`(vi) SWD M-10, M-11, M-11/9, and M-12;
`(vii) Steyr AUG;

`(viii) INTRATEC TEC-9, TEC-DC9 and TEC-22; and

`(ix) revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similar to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12;

`(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of–

`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
`(iii) a bayonet mount;
`(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor; and
`(v) a grenade launcher;

`(C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of–

`(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip;
`(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;
`(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned;
`(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded; and
`(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm; and

`(D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of–

`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
`(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds; and
`(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine.’.

Is it too much to ask that every person wanting to possess a firearm be subject to a battery of tests -- everything from intelligence and emotional quotient exams to a psychological evaluation and background check?
After all, for years we have said that guns do not kill people, people kill people. People who are incapable of driving are not allowed to drive. People who are incapable of performing brain surgery are not allowed to practice as a neurosurgeon. People who are incapable of properly handling firearms should not be allowed to handle them.

And, here is, unfortunately, an attempt to turn the whole issue into one of racism and sexism: link

Finally, a link discussing some obvious myths: Flash Suppressors Do Not Kill People,

These should keep you busy and thinking at least for a while.

Rape

Yes, I know this is a strange and different topic. But, the whole thing with sex today is way, way different than when I was a teenager, you know? And I saw what I thought to be an EXCELLENT article written by a woman but in a guy point of view:
http://christaramblesandwrites.blogspot.com/2012/12/on-being-dudeand-what-to-do-about-rape.html

I was at Red Rocks once for a concert in the early 1980's. I was old enough that I should have been willing to take a responsible male role - hey, I had a teenage daughter myself by then. If you have ever been at Red Rocks, you know there is quite an overhang for the seats - great place to put your backpack or dry clothes in a rain storm.

Well, as the night passed on and the bongs passed on this girl about 2 rows behind me got incredibly wasted. Some guy was hitting on her hard, and she had no idea what planet she was on, so as he dragged her under the seats and began to, ahem, disrobe her I thought gee, her friends are surely gonna come to her rescue.

All that happened was another girl reached down and took the car keys out of her pocket, then three girls left together leaving this young lady 'way beyond stoned in the "loving" clutches of three guys. When I look back at this, I know I should have at least said something, or found a baseball bat to use to discuss chivalry with these ignards, or whatever. But did I? No, I practiced what my dad, in his Chicago commuting days, called "the subway stare".

I should be ashamed to bring up this memory. Hey, I am ashamed to bring up this memory. It isn't the first stupid thing I did or didn't do, it wasn't the last stupid thing I ever did, and I probably still do stupid things on a regular basis. But, as a father, as a disciple of Jesus, heck, as a man of character and integrity I should have done something. Even if that was back in the days before AIDS and even before herpes or genital warts became widespread and rampant sex was a foregone conclusion in many a circle. It is like Christa says in the above-linked blog: if someone consents when they are sober and awake, and are later stoned or asleep, there is a BIG difference. What they choose to do willingly should not become what you do with the young lady unwitting.

So read this blog. It puts in words for guys as a guy might say them all of those thoughts that have haunted me for the 30 years that I keep remembering what I failed to do. Remember, We are the people. In our republic, the collective is responsible for protecting the individual, even if, perhaps particularly when, the individual is a "different" person. None of us is as strong as all of us, each of us can always use help. Just like Abe said in Bill and Ted's adventure: Be excellent in all things and one to another.

You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by,
and so become yourself because the past is just a goodbye.
Teach your children well: their father's hell will slowly go by and feed them on your dreams;
Tthe one they pick's the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry.
So, just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
        -- Graham Nash

The NRA?

No, NOT the National Rifle Association. Yes, I am a member of the National Rifle Association - that goes along with being a Southerner raised Baptist by a Marine veteran, as I have discussed many times. Today's NRA is the National Recovery Administration, established by the National Industrial Recovery Act. In case you have forgotten, or never had the opportunity due to lack of time in most curricula to cover the 20th century in history classes (always got lost in the Civil War, maybe got as far as the start of World War I), here is the Wikipedia link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration
{and, while you are at wikipedia, consider contributing for their support. What is for you a pittance through Paypal is their lifeblood}.

I was reminded of the NRA when I was on eBay looking at Shirley Temple dolls to see if any were actually selling (Peg wants to sell some of hers to make Christmas money, and I told her it probably was not worthwhile*). One of the dolls had a dress with an NRA tag, and the seller said they had no idea what that stood for:




The NRA was the fundamental basis of President FD Roosevelt's "New Deal". If you don't know about New Deal, you really DO need to go back and read a little history if not study it. Just as today, the nation was in need of economic and social recovery due to the depths of what was, then, The Great Depression. My folks talked about the Depression, and it was pretty ugly. They both made it through okay because my Grandfather Riddle was a country doctor and my Grandfather Moore was a very good farmer. Neither was in debt, neither was invested in stocks that crashed, neither one panicked. The neighbors all chipped in to help each other when and as they could - Mom used to talk about how their school had soup at lunch every day and everyone had to take their cup of soup and eat it, even if they brought their own lunch from home. For some kids that was their only meal, of course - kind of like free and reduced today, which has been carried on to the penultimate panacea of food stamps. :-\   My grandfather and uncle were directed by the NRA/government to grow potatoes. I suspect they may have been a bit subsidized, but I never really have known for sure. I know that things were bad enough that Grandpa paid for three refrigerated boxcars to carry his potatoes to Chicago, and then once they arrived there were no buyers and he had to pay for a day labor crew to unload the cars and throw the potatoes away.

That could have made a lot of potato soup, you know?

Anyway, back to the NRA. In principle it was great. Kind of like arbeit macht frei - sounds great, but what happens in the real world. Government control of unions and companies ... well, you can predict where that headed then, just as you can guess where it is heading now. In 1935 the Supreme Court found that the NIRA was unconstitutional in that it failed to maintain the separation of powers. The all powerful party in control managed to push through many of its provisos in the National Labor Relations Act, though (the legislation that "allows" auto makers to pay a cadre of replacement workers to be on site in case they are needed due to absence - $65 an hour to sit in the cafeteria and do nothing. Really. They are required to do nothing while waiting the full shift to see if they are needed. Anecdotally I heard that once they actually called for one of them to go to the line and could not find one skilled in the tasking they needed ... ).

Those who cannot remember the past (or never knew it) are destined to repeat it. As Leon Uris said of the Ireland-North Ireland conflict  in Trinity, there is no tomorrow, no today, just yesterday repeating itself over and over. One of the things my dad successfully taught me was that if something ain't broke, don't fix it; but, if something is broke, fix it and fix it right, once and for all.

We are broke as a country. We need to fix it right, once and for all. Pulling a play from the 80-yr-old playbook that didn't work and was illegal is hardly the way to fix it right.

They always say if you pick on some idea have a better suggestion. My suggestion is always free enterprise. The shortcoming is that it takes equally well informed producer and consumer groups, so our consumers have some waking up and some learning to do. Either that, or we are headed for idiocracy! Fiscal cliff? Bring it on. We will have to bite bullets eventually, and we had just as well do it now. Punt the NRA and its latter-day equivalent and go for full rebirth of the nation.

jim

* - Shirley Temple, Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, collector plates of all types, doll series from Franklin and Danbury Mints, music boxes, medals, teacups; Precious Moments and Memories of Yesterday -- all are cute to beautiful and sold famously when they came out. We have more than our share around here. The thing is, anyone who was interested bought more than their share when these items first came out. The price was fixed by the distributor at a level that impressed the buyer as being a bit above junk, which may or may not have been true, but was still low enough for pa to buy ma one or two on birthday/anniversary/

Christmas/Valentine's Day. And he did. So everyone has relatively a similar stack in their basement or storage area, akin to ours. They have what they want, and more, and they are in no position to buy anything else due to the present economy AND due to the fact that they do not need or want any more Shirley Temple, Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, collector plates...